German Patent Application DE 39 32 441 discloses a reclosable folding box that includes a front wall and a rear wall as well as two side walls which connect the front wall and the rear wall, a base part and a top closure tab. The closure tab is connected, via a fastening flap, to an insertion tongue. This folding box does not provide any possible means for hanging it on a hook.
German Patent Application DE 4322555 likewise discloses a reclosable, cuboidal folding box. This folding box comprises a rear wall, which is formed by an outer side-wall part and an inner side-wall part, a front wall, two side walls which connect the front wall and the rear wall, a base closure and a top closure. The outer side-wall part has, in its top region, a hanging tab with a correspondingly shaped hanging device, for example round holes or slots. The hanging tab can be used to position the folding box on a hook.
However, since the hanging tab is merely of single-layer design and consists of the same material as the rest of the folding box, problems arise during practical usage of the folding box.
If, taking into consideration environmental reasons and reasons of cost, the folding box is produced from thin material, the hanging tab has insufficient stability. Even if the folding box is subjected to a slight, unintentional pulling action, the hanging tab tears off, with the result that the hanging tab loses its function and it is no longer possible for the box to be hung up as desired. Furthermore, the appearance of the box is adversely affected and it is no longer possible for the box to be displayed to the customer.
Conversely, producing the folding box from thicker, more stable, material means that, although the hanging tab can be subjected to tensile loading to a much greater extent, a large amount of material is wasted unnecessarily at the same time because the rest of the walls of the folding box are over-dimensioned.
DE 19541904 discloses a similar folding box. The folding box comprises a front wall, a rear wall, a right-hand side wall, which connects the front wall and the rear wall, and a left-hand side wall. The box has a base closure, which is formed by four base-closure tabs, and a top closure, which is formed by four closure tabs, two closure tabs of the top closure and two base-closure tabs being adhesively bonded to one another. Furthermore, integrated in the front wall or in the rear wall is a tear-open flap which is retained in the front wall or the rear wall by means of a weakening or predetermined tearing line and is connected to a closure tab of the top closure or to a base closure tab of the base closure via a folding line. At least one inner rear wall is provided in the folding box, to be precise if the tear-open flap is located in the rear wall. In the case where the tear-open flap is located in the front wall, then an intermediate wall and, adjoining the intermediate wall, an inner front wall are articulated.
Articulated on the rear wall, in the region of the latter which is free of the tear-open flap, is a first hanging tab, which is located in the plane formed by the rear wall and has a hanging device, such as slots or round holes. At the same time, a second hanging tab with a hanging device, such as slots or round holes, is punched out of the same region of the inner rear wall as in the case of the rear wall, starting from the folding line between the inner rear wall and closure tab, it being the case that the closure tab which is articulated on the inner rear wall has a greater width at the folding line than the second hanging tab.
German patent DE 19535008 discloses a reclosable, cuboidal folding box having a front wall, a rear wall, a left-hand side wall, which connects the front wall and the rear wall, and a right-hand side wall, having a reclosable base, preferably comprising three base-closure tabs articulated on the side walls, and having three further closure tabs, which are articulated on the front wall, on the left-hand side wall, which connects the front wall and the rear wall, and on the right-hand side wall and which are located opposite the base closure tabs, and having a fourth closure tab, which is articulated on the rear wall and, together with the three further closure tabs, forms the top closure of the folding box, this making it possible to have a secure and stable means of hanging the folding box on the known self-service hooks of sales racks within shops or pharmacies.
This folding box has a double-layer hanging means, but does not have a tamperproof seal which is reclosable.
German patent DE 19821087 discloses a reclosable, cuboidal folding box having a front wall, a rear wall, a right-hand side wall, which connects the front wall and the rear wall, and a left-hand side wall, having a base closure, which is formed by four base-closure tabs, having a top closure, which is formed by four closure tabs, it being possible for two closure tabs at the top closure and two base-closure tabs to be adhesively bonded to one another. This folding box has a tear-open flap, which is integrated in the front wall or the rear wall of the box, is retained in the front wall or the rear wall by means of a weakening or predetermined tearing line and is connected to a closure tab of the top closure or to a base-closure tab of the base closure via a folding line. The box also has at least one inner rear wall, on which, if appropriate, an intermediate wall and, adjoining the intermediate wall, an inner front wall are articulated.
Furthermore, a swing flap is integrated in the front wall or the rear wall by means of two weakening or predetermined tearing lines and is adhesively bonded in a reversible manner by at least one spot of adhesive.
One disadvantage associated with all of the boxes known from the prior art is that, insofar as they have the tamperproof seal disclosed by DE 4322555, the hanging means is always provided on that side of the folding box which is located opposite the tamperproof seal, i.e., in the base region of the folding box when the above-mentioned folding boxes are ones with a single-part blank. For the reasons specified above, the task of subsequently adhesively bonding a hanging means on the box is always to be avoided.
Another disadvantage of all of the known folding boxes from the prior art is that these boxes all comprise a relatively large amount of material in order to ensure the provision of a hanging means and, at the same time, a reclosure capability.